SOMO In The News
The following article written by Marin Resnick, Editor appeared the Mount Olive Chronicle on 9/5/24
Group works to stop warehouse development and preserve land
Grassroots organization forms protecting drinking water and safety of roadways
by Marin Resnick, Editor
MOUNT OLIVE TWP. – Residents Margaret Noon, owner of School Lunch Farm, Stephens State Park Road, Hackettstown, and Irene Sergonis, a member of the environmental committee, are bringing residents together to Stop Overdevelopment in Mount Olive (SOMO).
“Warehouses are going up at an alarming rate in Mount Olive, so we formed SOMO, Stop Overdevelopment in Mount Olive, to save Mount Olive from too many warehouses and overdevelopment and the many problems they bring to our rural/suburban community,” both Noon and Sergonis said via email on Saturday, Aug. 31.
“Both long-time and new residents choose Mount Olive for its rural and peaceful qualities and want to preserve their quality of life. This is an issue that residents are coming together on right now. People want to ensure they live in a healthy and safe community. From the protection of the aquifers that provide our drinking water to the safety of families on our roadways,” Noon and Sergonis said via email on Saturday, Aug. 31.
Mayor Joe Nicastro “applauded and agreed with the sentiment.
“I moved to Mount Olive for the open space,” Nicastro said. “But, the township is 80 percent in the Highlands Preservation Region, and the township has done an excellent job preserving other lands, so there isn’t a lot of area in the township to grow.
“The development which is happening is the business district, on Route 206 and Route 46, and we need the ratables from the businesses to cover the township’s bills.
“Warehouses are actually a good kind of development because they give us the ratables we need without affecting the school system.
“I don’t disagree with SOMO, I love the open space and the family feel of our community, but we have be logical and create a balance between development and open space so the township doesn’t become a very expensive place to live.”
SOMO was created in conjunction with the New Jersey Highlands Coalition to stop the building of warehouses in the township after the Highlands Preservation Council tabled a resolution on Thursday, June 20, that would provide a Highlands Redevelopment Area Designation for 10 lots totaling 47.61 acres located where Sandshore and Naughright roads intersect at Route 46.
“The Mount Olive Town Council passed a resolution on December 19, 2023 to present a petition to the Highlands Council to change the designation of all the property along Sandshore Road from Route 46 to Stephens State Park Road and across the Route 46 on the Naughright side of 46 from Highlands Preservation to Highlands Redevelopment,” both Noon and Sergonis wrote via email on Saturday, Aug. 31.
“The petition included a plan for an approximately 100,000 square feet warehouse at the intersection of Route 46 and Sandshore Road, a narrow and dangerous intersection with many accidents. This triggered many conversations with Mount Olive residents, not one person we spoke to wants this to happen or (to add) more warehouses without any planning.”
There are “many concerns residents have expressed” Noon and Sergonis said. Those concerns include an increase in truck traffic which could lead to more accidents, congestion, and pollution; the safety of children in nearby residential developments who walk to Sandshore School; increase in impervious cover increasing flooding in areas that already have storm water run off; stormwater issues and the air, noise, light, and pollution from warehouses, according to Noon and Sergonis.
Help From The New Jersey Highlands Coalition
Julia Somers, executive director of the New Jersey Highlands Coalition, said an increase in the building of warehouses in the state has been going on “for sometime.
“It’s an issue across all of the (municipalities in) the Highlands Region,” Somers said. “I’m not surprised because we have two major east to west highways, Route 78 and Route 80, and the second busiest port in the country, Port Newark, with only one rail line.
“Many of these (goods) are leaving in trucks, heading west, to be redistributed and they are looking for places to do that.”
However, placing these warehouses in the Highlands Region poses a threat to the drinking water of millions of New Jersey residents, according to Somers.
“About 6.2 million residents, in the state, get some or all of their drinking water from the New Jersey Highlands Region,” Somers said.
“There is no growth without water, and expanding impervious surfaces leaves nowhere for water to recharge and increases flooding. Where we build is an important planning issue for the state.”
It is important for Noon as well, because her farm, School Lunch Farm, has been having “stormwater issues related to a non-functioning stormwater basin at Sandshore and Stephens State Park roads that has been sending dirty runoff water” to her property.
“What shocks me was the way Margaret’s property was being flooded,” Somers said. “I think if she went to court, she would have a good case, and I hope the Highlands Council is sympathetic on that.”
Somers was “delighted and excited” Noon and Sergonis began SOMO and is willing to help the grass roots organization in anyway the coalition can. The coalition has helped many grass roots organizations with “educating people on how to engage with planning boards, what the planning board process is and how it works,” Somers said.
“We also help with community outreach, social media and fundraising,” Somers said.
Getting Involved
“We are out on the street talking to our neighbors and holding virtual and in person meetings to identify areas of concern throughout the township,” Noon and Sergonis said via email. “We are in the process of creating a website and printed materials for education and information gathering. Social media will also be used for community engagement. People have power to make change when we come together as a community.”
Grassroots organizations are “democracy at its best,” according to Somers.
“It’s people standing up in their community,” Somers said.
Noon, as a farmer, would like to see the township put forth plans for sustainable growth.
“Since I started my farm in Mount Olive in 2012 many residents have expressed to me their environmental concerns caused by overdevelopment in Mount Olive,” Noon said. “It’s time to stop talking and take action. We are at a tipping point where our town is seriously losing the rural and safe character that residents have come to enjoy.
“I think we would all like to see a real stormwater management plan, a township plan for sustainable development and a plan for a real Mount Olive downtown where we can come together.”
Somers agreed with Noon’s sentiments.
“Mount Olive is a beautiful community,” Somers said. “The township is half in the Highlands Preservation Area and half in the Planning Area, and it appears as though the township is no holds bar in the Planning Area.
“I’ve often heard people say they wished Mount Olive was more like Chester, but Chester’s Mayor Tim Drag understands how to make that happen.”
To contact SOMO email to letsgosomo@gmail.com
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